OMG. I had to type everything AGAIN because it went all weird on me. O.o;

Well, ANYWAYS; this chapter is short. It got off to a REALLY bad start so I ended it early. All will be well in the next chapter, though; I can promise you of that! :)

Here is a HORRIBLE story; you will go all like :( when you read it:

"I went out and bought two new female Betta fish from PetSmart. I tried to put them in with my OTHER female Betta fish. Her name is Tropica and she's quite big, right? She's red and blue. I got a blue one named Aqua the same size as Tropica and a pink one named Taffy that is REALLY tiny. :( :( :(
They started fighting, and I had to separate Aqua and Tropica. They were ripping each other's fins off, for God's sake! I HAD to help them! :( ...
So, I put Aqua in ANOTHER tank, but Tropica went after Taffy. I TRIED to put her back in the pet store's container, but Taffy flopped at the very moment I was putting her into there and fell onto my knee! I was like, "NO!" and tried to get her and she fell and got lost in my bean bag chair!
I FINALLY managed to get her ALIVE (phew) and put her in the container. I put her in Aqua's tank and put Aqua in the tank downstairs. Taffy now has a tear in her tail and looks like a scissors-tail Betta, and Aqua and Tropica have holes in their tails.
:( :( :( :( I'm such a horrible Betta owner! :( It was totally by accident but the pet store owner DID tell me I could put three of them together! :( So I did, and now LOOK what happened! Tropica is still mad; Taffy has a tear in her tail and is scarred for life because of her falling on the floor and all that, and Aqua is in a tank with a filter downstairs! :("

I put Taffy in the tank downstairs, too; they both seem pretty happy, and I will NEVER try to put any other fish in with Tropica again!!!! :o Female Bettas are SUPPOSED to live together!!!! :o Hmm.... I wonder if Tropica is really a male in disguise as a female....?!?! ;) :o

Well, anyways; my OTHER tropical fishies (who are NOT Betta fish!!!! :o ) are MUCH more accepting of Aqua and Taffy, so I'm keeping them in THEIR tank. :)

....What else was I going to say???? I can't remember.... :( It was about fish, though.

Oh, something else!!!! :) I had my birthday party today and I got $50 worth of gift cards for my local mall, AND $50 for Chapters!!!! ^^; I'm REALLY happy now.

O.o; So many events.... :o

Chapter 10

A week or so passed. During that time, it was just the usual: hunt, be tortured, and now train the slaves and stay in the cage all the rest of the time.

I lay in my cage, kind of bored. I rested my head on my paws and looked out. My stomach was growling. I hadn't gotten anything to eat in a while, but Rose gave me scraps of food every now and then. I was grateful for it, but it still didn't fill my rumbling stomach.

"Bug!" Rock barked sharply in my ear. I whirled around, startled, and saw that he was staring at me from the outside of the cage. "There is somebody coming to view the slaves soon, at sun-down. By then, I want you to have hunted for me and cleaned up the camp!"

"Yes, Master," I murmured, dipping my head respectfully.

"Well." Rock glared at me. "Go, then. Be back before sun-down."

"Yes, Master!" I said, raising my tail, and then I scampered off.

I got out into the forest and looked around. I wondered if there was some way that I could let those little cats escape. They didn't deserve to be used as slaves and tortured. In the past week alone, we had already stolen kits from ThunderClan, ShadowClan, and RiverClan, too. We took the toms as well as the she-cats, and now all the kits in all the Clans were gone. Even WindClan; we went back there and took the rest of the kits, too. Rock even sent us out to Twolegplace to wait and watch, and steal kittypet kittens!!! We have a few more apprentices, too. Rock is planning to sell all of them. Some of them are probably going to join his group sooner or later, though…. and be free.

A dark, black shiver of envy passed through me as I thought that. Free. Free.

Free was something that I would never be again; unless, of course, I managed to escape.

Highly unlikely, I thought. I scowled. I wanted to be free! And I would be free someday. It would take a while, but free I would be…. and I would rescue as many kits as I could, too….

I shook my head and concentrated on hunting again. I heard a rustle in the trees. The rustle was coming from the branches just above me.

A blackbird, I thought. That would be good.

I backed up slowly, and stalked lightly through the bushes until it was right in front of me. It was just a little bit higher than me, but I could jump….

….And jump I did. I jumped as high as I could, and…. I got it!

I buried the blackbird for later and stalked off again.

***

Later, when I got back to camp, I was somewhat exhausted. I had been working hard.

However, I still had to clean up the camp. I gave Rock and my other masters their food, got tortured, and started working.

****

Later, when Rock's friend came, the camp was all cleaned up. Rock was ready.

"Now, you," he growled, "will stay in the cage the whole time unless I call you. Got that?"

"Y-Yes, Master," I mumbled, my head bowed down.

"Good." Rock slammed his paw down on the top of my head. I felt woozy. I felt dizzy. It almost overwhelmed me as I began stumbling to my cage. Rock opened the door and shoved me in. He latched it shut behind him and welcomed his friend to the camp.

"Welcome, Blood!" Rock greeted the tom.

"Greetings, Rock." Blood lashed his tail. "My full name is Blood Splash, as you already know…. or, I thought that you did. Have you forgotten?"

"N-No," Rock giggled nervously. How unlike him! "I was just teasing you." He winked.

Blood flicked his tail dismissively. "Yes…. very good. Well, anyways; I came here to see the kits, not just chat idly with you. Where are they?"

"Ah—oh, yes; they're in here," Rock said, blinking. He led the way past my cage into the slave keeping place's entrance.

Rock's friend looked at me, seemingly interested, as they passed. When they were gone, I shuddered inwardly. What were they planning to do? Would they come out with a kit?